


Third

by ladydragon76



Series: AU Yeah AUgust (in December) [14]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: It's Trope Time People!, LD's Fanfic Jeopardy!, M/M, discussion of past rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 10:09:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16993014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydragon76/pseuds/ladydragon76
Summary: Summary:There is a piece missing from them, and they've always known it.





	Third

**Author's Note:**

> **'Verse:** G1  
>  **Series:** AU Yeah August  
>  **Rating:** R  
>  **Characters:** Sideswipe/Sunstreaker/Breakdown  
>  **Warnings:** Discussion of Past Rape,  
>  **Notes:** I'm sure you all remember AU Yeah AUgust, yeah? Well, I was crocheting and didn't have time to try to write like I wanted, so I decided to move it to December. I have chosen some other prompts to replace some on the original list so as to avoid the ones I'm not into, but I do hope y'all enjoy!
> 
> 14\. Reincarnation

There had always been the dreams. Not the nightmares that haunted the twins throughout their dangerous lives, but dreams. They felt like memories, but they couldn't be. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker knew the story of their life. They remembered their sire and carrier even if only in vague impressions of emotion and color. They remembered the shouting and screaming, the violent clang of metal on metal. They remembered hearing spark-broken sobbing over their own high wailing. They remembered the gutters, the brothel, being framed up and not knowing until vorns later that it was a miracle they survived it.

There had been a short, beautiful time after they'd dragged themselves from the gutters where Sunstreaker was a renowned artist and Sideswipe was a... _mostly_ respectable acquisitions specialist. Then there had been the fall, the unrest, the uprising, and they found themselves back on the streets, though not for long. They were tough, unique, and the gladiatorial arena caught them up. Already impressive fighters, they were able to hone those skills and gain new ones.

Sideswipe had wanted to join the Decepticons. Megatron had always looked after them, in so much as another in the Pits looked after another who wasn't his spark twin. But Sunstreaker, for all that _he_ liked to crawl into Megatron's berth, had simply shaken his head, and when the opportunity presented itself, Sideswipe led Sunstreaker away from the arena and straight to the Autobots to sign up with them.

But the dreams never stopped.

Sideswipe was Sideswipe, but not. Sunstreaker was Sunstreaker, but not. And the other one, whose name changed just like theirs always did. Where was he?

The dreams were _always_ shared.

And they always woke aching right down to their sparks and wondering where he was.

Whoever 'he' was, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were both desperate to find him. It earned them a reputation over the vorns, but neither cared. They made no promises to the mechs they took to their berth, and said mechs enjoyed themselves _immensely_ before being sent on their way.

Four million years passed in stasis, trapped on an alien mudball with the same mechs they already knew weren't their missing piece. The dreams persisted, and Sunstreaker was the always cold dash of reality to Sideswipe's hopeful wishes.

"If he ever lived, he's dead by now," Sunstreaker said after waking from another dream. Impressions of a love only familiar to him because it was how he felt for Sideswipe lingered with the sensory ghost of strong fingers clutching Sunstreaker's wrist.

"We don't know that."

"Yes. We do," Sunstreaker insisted. Primus, they'd even thrown a nice little Aerialbot orgy just to be sure none of the new ones were who they were looking for. He wasn't any of the Dinobots either.

The argument was cut short by the alarms going off and a call to arms filling their comms.

"Fraggin' 'Cons," Sideswipe grumbled and checked his blaster's charge even as they jogged out of their quarters.

They'd checked out the Decepticons, too, over the ages. That had caused no end of trouble, and 'should'a been 'Cons' was something certain angry little minibots liked to throw in their faces during arguments. Sunstreaker never bothered to correct them with words.

~ | ~

"Ow, fuck," a voice hissed from somewhere nearby.

Sunstreaker reached over the bond for Sideswipe and found his twin close and just waking from whatever had knocked them out. That had not been Sideswipe's voice. Sunstreaker dared slit his optics open, but he was met with nothing but impenetrable darkness.

Despite the mental warning to be quiet and still, Sideswipe groaned and shifted, and that caused the owner of the voice to squeak, flail, and crash against Sunstreaker in his effort to escape Sideswipe.

"Frag it, ya glitch!" Sunstreaker snapped as something hard connected with his helm.

Sunstreaker shut his optics so they'd stop trying to see what wasn't there to be seen, then reached out. His fingers slid along smooth plating before finally hooking into a seam. He surged up, twisted, ignored the yelp, and slammed the mech to the floor before dropping his weight on top of him.

A rattle ran through Sunstreaker's frame, and he went still.

 _Sunny..?_ Sideswipe asked over the bond, the sense of him fuzzy from a likely head injury.

"Who are you?" Sunstreaker demanded, opening his optics. Yellow optics stared back up at him, wide and bright enough for Sunstreaker to see the face was not the usual silver or white so many mechs had, though he wasn't sure what color it was.

"Sunny... I felt-"

"Shut up, Sides," Sunstreaker growled and stared down at the mech, who whimpered before beginning to shout.

"Stop looking at me!" The yellow light disappeared as the mech's- the Decepticon's optics were squeezed shut and he began to thrash.

"Knock it off," Sunstreaker said, simply digging into the seam more. The struggle ended with a gasp of pain.

_Sunny..._

Sunstreaker ignored Sideswipe as he crawled closer and focused on the mech beneath him. They didn't _need_ to interface with a mech to be sure, but it was more fun. Sunstreaker wasn't exactly against 'facing this one either, but he didn't know who he had trapped under him. "Name."

"Breakdown," Breakdown whimpered, his head twisted to the side and optics still shut.

Sunstreaker nodded as he thought about it. "Stunticon." They hadn't been all that close to the Stunticons yet.

"New one," Sideswipe whispered, right next to Sunstreaker now.

Breakdown whimpered again.

 _It's him,_ Sideswipe said, utterly certain, and Sunstreaker couldn't argue.

Their sparks pulsed in unison, and Sunstreaker leaned forward just a bit more, chest to chest with Breakdown. He wasn't after starting a merge. Primus, Breakdown's body language couldn't scream 'no' any louder than it was, but Sunstreaker _needed_ just the tiniest taste. Just enough to be _sure_.

Both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe let their sparks flick outward, and Breakdown went utterly still.

"What..?" Breakdown gasped.

"It's him," Sideswipe whispered in awe.

"Why did you-?"

Sunstreaker eased himself back and pulled Breakdown up to sit as he did. "You ever have weird dreams?"

"I might be right now," Breakdown said, his voice weak and wavering. Yellow optics were dim, and Sunstreaker could just make out the shadow of a hand against Breakdown's helm.

"We always dream of a third," Sideswipe said. "Always have. He's been missing all our lives."

"All this life," Sunstreaker corrected.

Breakdown's optics moved as he shook his head. "But... those are... They get so _mad_ at me for those!" A hand swung out, and Sunstreaker dodged back. "That's _you two_?! Stop it!"

"It's us, but we're not making it happen," Sideswipe said and scooted closer to Breakdown. "We don't know why you weren't born with us this time."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

Sunstreaker shook his head despite the darkness. "No, you just haven't had millions of years to get used to it yet is all."

"How's this going to work?" Sideswipe asked, looking at Sunstreaker. "He's a 'Con and part of a gestalt."

Breakdown edged back, metal scraping rock until he clanked up against the wall of whatever tunnel or cave they'd fallen into. "How's what going to work? What are you planning? What are you going to do to me?"

"Those dreams?" Sideswipe began, and Sunstreaker felt him shift and sit more comfortably. "They're spark memories. The three of us are always together."

"Except this time," Sunstreaker added and got more comfortable himself. Primus, they were going to need a full wash, buff, and polish once rescued.

"Except this time," Sideswipe agreed. "We don't know if we were twins... well, triplets then, or just bondmates, or what, but I've counted over a dozen different lives in those dreams. There were always three of us, and we've spend _this_ life going insane trying to find our third."

"It can't be me," Breakdown said, but there was something in his voice that caught Sunstreaker's attention. Sideswipe's too, if that perk up through the bond was anything to go by.

"It is you," Sunstreaker said. "No mistaking it. You can sit there and deny it all you want out loud, but you know it as well as we do."

 _Anything we say to him, his gestalt's going to find out,_ Sideswipe said over the bond. _Which means, any plot to take him away from them with him-_

 _They'll know, and act to stop it,_ Sunstreaker finished. There was no helping that now though. "Look," he said out loud. "You know now, and it's gonna have to be on you what you do with that knowledge."

"What's that mean?" Breakdown asked.

"Means that, by our understanding on how gestalts work," Sideswipe said and leaned forward a bit, "the next time you hook up with your team, they're going to know too. We haven't heard too many pleasant things about Motormaster."

"And how do you think Megatron's gonna like knowing the psycho twins of terror consider you their missing brother?" Sunstreaker asked.

Those yellow optics flared bright and wide. "Oh fuck me..."

"We're not too keen on letting you be hurt by them," Sideswipe offered, but it didn't really seem to comfort Breakdown any. "You got two choices, mech. One, you come with us, you beg Prime for asylum and you mean it. Two. You go back to the 'Cons, back to your gestalt, and they _will_ find out about this. Best case scenario for that one?"

"Motormaster beats me to slag," Breakdown answered in a thready whimper. "But then the others will know too, and no one can keep Wildrider's mouth shut. They'll think I'm a traitor."

"Not if you're dead-set on staying a 'Con," Sunstreaker pointed out, and felt a twist of happiness around the smug knowledge that Breakdown _wasn't_ dead-set on staying a Decepticon. It was there in his optics, his field- the doubt, the unhappiness.

"I hate Autobots," Breakdown said.

"So do I," Sunstreaker said. "Most of them anyway, but no one beats on us. No one's withholding energon, not even when we do act against regulations."

"Worst punishment they've ever given us was separate brig cells," Sideswipe added.

"They'll throw me in a cell," Breakdown whined, curling in on himself. "They'll never like me. They'll find ways to hurt me. Megatron will never let me go either. I'm part of his most worthless gestalt, but we all know he'll never hurt us _too_ much in punishment because we're valuable as a whole. He'll want me back, and I don't care how soft-sparked Prime is, he's not going to risk all his soldiers for me!"

Sunstreaker cocked his head to the side. "Then me and Sides will just have to make Menasor useless whether you're there or not."

Yellow optics blinked. "No one kills on Earth."

And there it was, Sunstreaker thought, confirmation of the unspoken agreement everyone knew about but no one mentioned. Not even in hushed whispers. Pits, he and Sideswipe never even spoke of it over the bond. "Then we make it clear that Megs is better off with four functioning mechs who are no longer a gestalt than anything else he may want."

"I don't know what to do!" Breakdown shouted, and the light of his optics disappeared.

"Hey, it's ok. This is a lot, right?" Sideswipe said and scooted even closer to Breakdown. "Cycle your vents a few times, and think of how you feel in those dreams." There was a shuddering sigh from Breakdown's direction. "Got it?" Sideswipe asked. "What do you feel?"

"It's stupid," Breakdown mumbled, the words muffled, and Sunstreaker got the sense of him talking into his knees or from behind his hands.

"Tell me anyways."

"It's... nice. Like I'm... safe or something. Like I'm wanted, but not just b'cause I got a valve they can fuck," Breakdown said.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both bit back angry growls. _No one_ should be touching Breakdown if he didn't want them to!

"Ok, good. Now," Sideswipe said, somehow managing the control to sound perfectly normal despite the rage within the bond, "tell us how you feel when you think of your gestalt mates. How's being around them?"

A low whine filled the air, and Breakdown whispered, "I hate them." Then louder. "I _hate_ them! They hate me, and I don't want to 'face them! I don't like it! It always hurts, and then they call me weak and stupid, and Motormaster hits me if I cry about it! I hate not seeing the sky! I hate not being able to drive around in the sun! They get _so mad_ about those dreams when we form up into Menasor and they find out. And I can't help it! It's just a stupid dream! _Fuck_!" By the end, he was raving, the words echoing off the rock around them, and Sunstreaker felt like his spark was going to break.

This wasn't new to the twins. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had been stuck in awful situation after awful situation. Sunstreaker understood the hate. He understood the helpless fury. "What if you could feel the way you do in those dreams though?" Sunstreaker asked.

Yellow peeked up at Sunstreaker, and Breakdown slowly lifted his head. "You don't love me."

"No, we love the idea of our third," Sideswipe said and finally worked himself into place right next to Breakdown, though he didn't touch. "We've been looking for him our whole lives, and we _want_ to know him, love him. You."

Sunstreaker jolted as Breakdown suddenly burst into wrenching sobs.

"Sweetspark..." Sideswipe cooed and eased in to wrap an arm around Breakdown. Sunstreaker was surprised to feel him press close and lean into the embrace. Their sparks flared again, not in connection, but in longing, and Breakdown's was right there with them. "Look, we can't promise the Autobots won't be afts to you. We can't promise that you won't get stuck in the brig for a bit, but we can promise to get to know you. We can promise we won't beat on you or rape you, that we won't let anyone else. If you 'face anyone, it'll be because you and they want to."

"It won't be with you?" Breakdown asked, sniffling and looking up at Sideswipe.

Sideswipe's smile was wide and happy. "Baby, if you want to 'face us, I can _swear on our sparks,_ that it'll be the best frag of your life no matter who else you let touch you, no matter how long you live."

"Big words."

Sunstreaker smirked. "We can live up to them."

Breakdown was quiet for a few minutes, but he stayed snuggled into Sideswipe's side. Whether he was aware of it, or just so touch-starved for kind contact, Sunstreaker didn't know, but it hardly mattered. Breakdown wasn't shoving them away.

Breakdown really was their missing third.

"Ok," Breakdown whispered, long minutes later. "I'll come with you, but you have to do all that stuff you said. You have to make me feel like in the dreams."

Sunstreaker crawled over and wedged himself in on Breakdown's other side. "So long as you make us feel that way too."

"It's a three-way street," Sideswipe added.

"I don't know how, though."

"You'll learn," Sunstreaker said, then realized how threatening that might sound to a mech who hadn't yet experienced the good times. "We'll help you learn. I'm not perfect at it even after so long, so it's not like we'll hold mistakes or missteps against you."

"Ok," Breakdown repeated, and Sunstreaker was shocked to feel an unfamiliar hand flutter against him until Breakdown could take and hold his hand. "So long as you teach me then."

Sunstreaker felt his spark go liquid and warm, and squeezed Breakdown's hand back. "Promise."

For a good long while the three of them simply sat and soaked in the closeness of the others, then Sideswipe just had to pipe up, "Are they _ever_ going to rescue us, or should we start digging ourselves out?"

**Author's Note:**

> Want to learn more [About Me](https://ladydragon76.dreamwidth.org/334490.html)?
> 
>  
> 
> (LOL, I had to make another new pairing tag here heheheeh!)


End file.
